Meeting documents

To consider the attached report and appendices.

Contact Officer:  Kate Mulhearn (01296) 585724

The Committee received a progress report on activity undertaken against the 2018/19 Assurance Plan that had been approved by the Committee in June 2018.  The following matters were highlighted:-

Final Reports issued since the previous Committee Meeting

The following reviews had been completed since the last Committee meeting:-

·                    Commercial Waste (High risk) – the review had identified one high risk, 3 medium risk and 2 low risk findings.  The audit had been performed during September-October 2018 and Members were informed that significant work had taken place since then to address the risks identified, as outlined in the comments from management.  The current and ongoing level of risk had been reduced, and this would be validated by internal audit through the follow-up process over the coming months.

·                    Comments, Compliments and Complaints (Low Risk) – the review had identified one medium and one low risk finding.  A sample of 25 had been tested from a total of 50 comments, 60 compliments and 510 complaints received during the period April-November 2018.  The medium risk related to delays in responding to Stage 1 complaints with a further delay where the complaint had escalated to Stage 2.  Action had already taken place to improve the monitoring of response times and plans were in place to address other weaknesses.

The full review reports were attached as Appendix 3 to the Committee report.

2018/19 Internal Audit Plan Work in Progress

The Committee was informed that a number of reviews were in progress and would be reported to the Audit Committee in March 2019.  These included:-

·                    Section 106 Agreements.

·                    Housing Benefits.

·                    Parking Services.

·                    Company Governance (Aylesbury Vale Estates).

·                    Connected Knowledge.

Implementation of Agreed Audit Actions

The implementation of actions and recommendations raised by internal audit reviews were monitored to ensure that the control weaknesses identified had been satisfactorily addressed.  Actions arising from low risk audit findings were followed up by management and reviewed, but not validated, by internal audit.

A detailed listing of all internal audit actions, together with a status update was included at Appendix 4.  In total, 40 actions were followed up for the January 2019 Committee – that included an update on all actions due for completion by 31 December 2018.  12 out of the 40 actions (30%) had been completed, compared to a 55% completion rate reported in October 2018.

Members sought further information and were informed:-

·                    that good progress had been made against the most significant finding from the Commercial Waste review regarding completing site risk assessments for all commercial waste customers.  It was anticipated that all assessments would be completed by the end of February 2019.

·                    that a trade waste meeting had been arranged including all key members of the management team involved with commercial waste, with bi-weekly meetings now being scheduled to discuss all key projects / KPIs and plans concerning commercial (trade) waste.

·                    that management had tightened the controls, monitoring and reporting of the Comments, Compliments and Complaints process, and these measures would lead to greater accountability.

·                    that internal audit would continue to monitor the implementation of actions agreed during the last audit of Accounts Payable, rather than undertake a new review.

·                    of Members concerns on the lack of progress with the level of safeguarding training for employees, as identified in the Safeguarding Review 2016/17.

RESOLVED –

(1)          That the progress report be noted, including the progress made in implementing the findings of the Commercial Waste review.

(2)          That, should the outstanding actions and implementation of the findings of the Safeguarding 2016/17 Review not be completed by the end of March 2019, senior Officers and the Cabinet Member be requested to attend the Audit Committee in June 2019 to provide an update on the lack of progress.